Couple's dream ends in tragedy

A Palm Harbor family grieves for a son and his fiancee who were killed Saturday when their motorcycle collided with a sport utility vehicle in Panama City.

By MATTIAS KAREN

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 28, 2000

PALM HARBOR -- In the picture, Craig Harper and Coleen Martini stand on Crystal Beach and smile and look as if they belong together. Both wear white polo shirts and gray pants. His brown hair is cut short, military style, while reddish-brown curls frame her face. His arm is wrapped around her, his hand on her stomach. Her hand rests on his.

Harper, 25, and his fiancee, Martini, 23, dreamed of a future together.

Instead, their dream ended Saturday, when Harper's new motorcycle, with the couple aboard, crashed into a sport utility vehicle that pulled in front of them in Florida's Panhandle. Harper, a 1993 graduate of Tarpon Springs High School, died at the scene. Martini died five hours later.

In December, a month before the picture at Crystal Beach was taken, Harper had proposed by the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree in New York City. Martini, a New York native, had moved to live with Harper, who was a senior airman at Tyndall Air Force Base near Panama City.

Harper was working toward becoming a sergeant, and they dreamed of being stationed in Italy or Germany so they could tour Europe. On June 17, Harper bought a new motorcycle he could ship overseas.

On Saturday, Harper was driving and Martini was sitting behind him on the motorcycle when the wreck took place on U.S. 98 in Panama City. A 1997 Chevy Blazer turned left in front of Harper, said Panama City police Officer Danny Stallings. Harper either slammed on the brakes or tried an evasive maneuver, Stallings said, and that caused the bike to go down on its side and crash into the Blazer. The motorcycle was only about 73 feet away from the Blazer when it pulled out in front of Harper.

"He didn't really have much time for reaction," Stallings said.

Charges against the driver of the Blazer, Jacquelyn Marshall, are pending. Stallings said she will at least be charged with violation of right-of-way.

Now the picture from Crystal Beach is one of many fond memories of Craig that his family in Palm Harbor has left. They remember the practical jokes he played, the jokes he told and the stories he made up. They laugh when they talk about his sense of humor, about how he would give his younger sister, Keri, wedgies and "wet willies," and how he would check up on any men that visited his older sister, Brenda's, apartment.

"He always had a funny thing for everything," Brenda Harper said.

Brenda, who also is stationed at Tyndall Air Force Base and was Craig's neighbor, said her brother had large brass vase in his apartment that their dad had given him. When friends would ask what was in it, "he'd say it was his uncle's ashes, that it was his urn," Brenda said. Craig would even put cigarette ashes in the vase, so when people would look in it, they'd see ashes.

Barry Harper, Craig's father, said his son was full of stories like that.

"You'd never get a straight answer out of him," he said. "My son was a great kid."

The Harpers moved to Palm Harbor from New York in 1986, and Barry Harper had served in the Marines. When Craig graduated from high school, he decided to follow in the footsteps of his father and sister and joined the Air Force. In March 1997, Craig left for Korea to serve a year there. He liked to travel, and the Air Force was his life, said his mother, Jeannette.

"He loved his country," Jeanette said. "He was very patriotic."

Craig loved the outdoors, and liked to go camping. He was a member of the swim team at Tarpon Springs High School, and was on the honor guard at Tyndall for a while. He loved living in Florida, his family said. Most summers the family would go to St. Augustine. Craig was supposed to meet his family there next week.

He also was supposed to marry Martini on the day after Thanksgiving. Instead, the two will be buried together in Long Island, N.Y., on Friday.

"They need to be together," Brenda Harper said. "You couldn't meet a couple more made for each other."

- Mattias Karen can be reached at (727) 445-4243 or at northpin@sptimes.com

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